5/17/2026
Rice Lake Speedway
Barta Tops “Bomber Bash” at Rice Lake Speedway
Barta Tops “Bomber Bash” at Rice Lake Speedway
By Ed Reichert
Rice Lake WI, May 16- Mark Barta topped the second annual “Bomber Bash” for Pure Stocks Saturday night to highlight the fourth racing program of the year at the Rice Lake Speedway.
Joining Barta in the headlines on a night when Summer finally found the Dairyland area of Wisconsin, Blake Adams scored yet another double win, topping both open wheel classes while Leslie Leu and Cody Kummer both visited victory lane for the first time in the new racing season.
The racing fans and businesses of the area once again came through for the racers at Rice Lake with the Pure Stocks finding themselves racing for $1,684 to win their twenty lap main event along with many other finishing positions that had seen their purse boosted for the second annual “Bash.”
There were three different leaders during the Pure Stock feature race with eventual winner Barta not taking the lead until lap eleven of the race.
In the early going it was Trevor Treviranous that held the top spot after starting on the pole but he could only hold off George Richards for a pair of laps until George ducked under Treviranous to take over the lead. With the first twelve laps of the feature going green, there was much movement within the pack with several drivers, including winner Barta making big advancements during that long green flag period.
Richards continued to lead but by the halfway point of the race, Barta, who started fifth, had worked his way into the runner up slot. Last year's winner Austin Fencl was up to third by that point with Treviranous and James Rahn making up the top five at that point.
The first yellow flew with twelve laps complete for a stalled car and then on the restart a hard crash in turn one eliminated bothe the Karshbaum cars along with Marlene Lannet.
Through all this, Barta continued to lead with Richards right on his rear bumper and looking for a way past. Simon Wahlstrom had started on the tail of the field but the three time winner and only undefeated driver at the track so far was gradually working his way to the front. Things got exciting for him on the next restart when he was turned by another driver, triggering yet another yellow, but he got his spot back and would be a major player in the race after that point.
Wahlstrom got past both Fencl and Richards to move into second and when the yellow flew one last time with just five laps remaining, the battle for the lead would be intense. Barta continued to show the way but Wahlstrom was right on his rear bumper, searching for an opening. The final lap would see Simon take a shot in turn three but Barta held his ground and drove on for the win by a car length over Wahlstrom, ending the undefeated string for the last driver at the track. Wahlstrom however, did come all the way from twentieth to finish second.
Fencl ended up with the third spot over Richards and Bob Wahlstrom with twelve drivers completing the twenty laps. For Barta, the 2025 Rookie of the Year at the track, it was his third ever feature win at Rice Lake.
Adams started out his attempt to sweep the open wheel classes with a thrilling win in the Midwest Modified feature which very well may have been the race of the year so far at the track. There were three different leaders in the contest, some great back and forth racing among the top drivers and with a big field of entrants, just a single yellow flag that kept the top finishers constantly battling through traffic.
Brady Larson started on the pole and he quickly took the initial lead with Travis Anderson and Jason Vokovan closely following him. Anderson, particularly, was putting heavy pressure on Larson in the early going. Tough luck struck Vokovan with four laps completed when he spun out of the top five and triggered the only yellow flag of the race.
Larson continued to lead with Anderson and David Simpson challenging him for the top spot. Adams, meanwhile, had started ninth on the grid but he wasted little time getting up on the cushion of the track and charging to the front, picking off drivers lap after lap until he was in contention for the lead. By the halfway point of the race, he was up to second as he drove around both Anderson and Simpson to close on leader Larson.
Two laps later, another ouside move saw Adams grab the lead but it was far from a sure thing as he was still battling with both Simpson and Larson. The traffic was heavy and scattered all over the track and the top three racers battled with both each other and also the rush hour traffic jams on the speedway.
Simpson battled back and took over the lead for the first time but one lap later Adams threw a slider and retook the top spot. Simpson, however, wouldn't quit and his inside moves saw him pull up beside Adams on several occasions.
Approaching the final lap Adams had a slight lead but coming out of turn four, a slower car was running right in the middle of the track. Adams was forced to turn right dramatically while Simpson dove to the inside of the slower car as they split the roadblock and battled for the win.
Adams then held off Simpson on the final tour to take the win and become the first repeat winner in the division, which had seen different winners so far this year. Anderson had a fine drive to finish third with Larson and Cody Cimfl completing the top five. Only three drivers failed to complete the race.
Adams also had his hands full during the Modified feature with two other drivers giving him plenty of grief but he prevailed also in this race to earn his third Modified feature win of the year at Rice Lake.
He benefitted early in this contest as he started on the pole and took the early lead from Steve Hallquist and Nick Oreskovich. Mike Anderson was on the move after starting fifth but all eyes were on Matt Leer as he borrowed Adams' Midwest Modified strategy and made it work for him.
Leer started eighth but immediately went to the cushion and started to quickly pick off drivers as he charged to the front. Running the absolute rim of the track, he was flying as he made his bold charge to the front.
With this race also having a long green flag stretch, Leer was able to keep him momentum up and after passing Anderson, he moved into second and closed on the leader. In fact, Leer may have been a lap or so from making a pass for the lead when the lone yellow of the race, one lap past halfway, was triggered by debris on the front chute.
The yellow seemed to benefit Adams and hurt Leer as when they went back to racing, Adams seemed to have picked up the pace and started to pull away from the drivers chasing him. In fact, Leer slipped back to third and had to fight his way back past Anderson into second.
Meanwhile, Adams seemed to have found his groove and maintained his advantage of several car lengths over the field and he then drove on to the win. Leer had to settle for an impressive second over Anderson with Oreskovich and Brady Uotinen completing the top five.
Defending point champion in the Super Stocks, Leslie Leu, came home the winner in a hard fought Super Stock feature race that saw some of the hardest racing of the year with large groups of drivers slugging it out, lap after lap.
Jakob Bond started on the pole and took the early lead, fighting off challenges from Ryan Olson, Jim Cimfl, Leu and Steve Stuart. Just behind this cluster of drivers, Rick Simpson, Mickey Anderson, Andrew Davis and Alex Myers were going at it also and there were several instances of the drivers racing three and four wide coming off the corners in the early going.
All this hard racing led to several yellows but in between the slow downs, the racing was hard and fast with Myers especially making a charge to the front after starting fourteenth.
Leu had success finding the low line and on lap seven he was able to duck under Bond and take over the top spot which he was then able to maintain the rest of the way. However, the final laps were not easy as Olson and Stuart made strong challenges.
However, it was Myers that provided the biggest threat. He continued to use the top side of the track to continue his charge, just as we saw in a couple of the other features and he found his way up to second. In fact, he got a great run off turn four with just three laps to go and with a full head of steam down the front chute, had Leu in his sights. Unfortunately, he misgauged his speed and got into the back of the leader as he tried to pass him and Leu went for a wild spin into turn one. Myers was assessed the caution and went to the tail while Leu was restored to the lead.
He managed to hold off a hard pressing Olson and Stuart to drive home for the win. A couple of drivers that had fine runs in the top five, Cimfl and Anderson, both had issues at the tech inspection after the race and lost their finishes with Myers being elevated to fourth and Davis officially fifth.
Despite being the reigning track champion, the win for Leu was only his second ever at Rice Lake, the last one coming during the 2022 racing season.
Cody Kummer made his first racing appearance of the 2026 season and made it a memorable one as he led from start to finish to top the Street Stock feature. Kummer started on the outside pole and fought off Connor Franson to take the early lead. After a rocky period with back to back yellows on laps four and five, the race then settled in and the final fifteen laps ran off green to checkers.
Kummer built up a nice sized lead over the field with the battle being for the second spot as Caiden Engel had taken the position with Sam Fankhauser and eventually Danny Richards challenging him.
As Kummer raced alone up front, Fankhauser finally got by Engel for second and then began to close in on the leader.
While Sam narrowed up the lead considerably, he was not able to catch Kummer who has built up just too big an advantage as Cody started out his season with a win. Engel hung on for third, fighting off Danny and Cole Richards for the spot.
Next Saturday night, May 23rd, brings one of the highlight events of the season to the speedway. It will be Kid's Night at the track with many activities for the kids, perhaps the most famous being the bike giveaway with likely over one hundred bikes to be given away. The race cars will be on the track before the show starts and everyone is invited to come down on the track and collect pictures etc. from the drivers plus many will be providing goodies.
Last year a huge crowd was on hand for this event so fans are encouraged to arrive early and partake in all the activities. Race time will be 6 pm and all five classes will be racing a full program for the holiday weekend.
Further announcements as the week progresses can be found on the speedway website at www.ricelakespeedway.net and the track's face book page.
Results
Results formatted for use in newspapers, magazines, and online publications.
17 entries
WISSOTA Modifieds
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[1]; 2. 30-Matt Leer[8]; 3. 57-Mike Anderson[5]; 4. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[3]; 5. 9U-Brady Uotinen[9]; 6. 621-Colin Chaschuk[4]; 7. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[11]; 8. 18S-Kennedy Swan[15]; 9. 9-Riley Matthews[16]; 10. 20-Austin Ellis[14]; 11. 22T-Michael Truscott[7]; 12. 70-David Simpson[10]; 13. 43-Lance Schilling[12]; 14. 3H-Jake Hiatt[13]; 15. 3-Bryan Hessler[17]; 16. (DNF) 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[6]; 17. (DNF) 27H-Steve Hallquist[2]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22T-Michael Truscott[2]; 2. 30-Matt Leer[4]; 3. 9MM-Aiden Hoffman[1]; 4. 21F-Nick Oreskovich[8]; 5. 9U-Brady Uotinen[5]; 6. 40JR-Tyler Vernon[6]; 7. 3H-Jake Hiatt[3]; 8. 18S-Kennedy Swan[7]; 9. 3-Bryan Hessler[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 2. 57-Mike Anderson[3]; 3. 27H-Steve Hallquist[2]; 4. 621-Colin Chaschuk[8]; 5. 70-David Simpson[5]; 6. 43-Lance Schilling[1]; 7. 20-Austin Ellis[6]; 8. 9-Riley Matthews[7]
19 entries
WISSOTA Super Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14X-Leslie Leu[10]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 3. 80-Steve Stuart[5]; 4. 2M-Alex Myers[14]; 5. 20-Andrew Davis[11]; 6. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[9]; 7. 9-Jakob Bond[1]; 8. 22AT-Austin Tilton[15]; 9. 02-Travis Anderson[6]; 10. 28-Josh Cappo[19]; 11. 247-Tracy Larson[12]; 12. 38-Trevor Koslowski[18]; 13. 17G-Chris Gross[17]; 14. (DNF) 2-Bart Steffen[13]; 15. (DNF) 77K-Rick Simpson[7]; 16. (DNF) 21-Mike Siewert[16]; 17. (DNS) 10-Jeff Eisner Jr; 18. (DQ) 245-James Cimfl[2]; 19. (DQ) 01-Michael Anderson[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 80-Steve Stuart[6]; 2. 77K-Rick Simpson[3]; 3. 245-James Cimfl[1]; 4. 14X-Leslie Leu[5]; 5. 2-Bart Steffen[2]; 6. 21-Mike Siewert[4]; 7. 38-Trevor Koslowski[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Jakob Bond[2]; 2. 1-Ryan Olson[4]; 3. 10-Jeff Eisner Jr[3]; 4. 20-Andrew Davis[1]; 5. 2M-Alex Myers[6]; 6. (DNF) 28-Josh Cappo[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Michael Anderson[5]; 2. 22-Robert Holmstrom Jr[4]; 3. 02-Travis Anderson[1]; 4. 247-Tracy Larson[6]; 5. 22AT-Austin Tilton[2]; 6. 17G-Chris Gross[3]
19 entries
WISSOTA Midwest Mods
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[9]; 2. 70-David Simpson[5]; 3. 37-Travis Anderson[3]; 4. 63JR-Brady Larson[1]; 5. 19C-Cody Cimfl[10]; 6. 7-Mike Schnider[12]; 7. 89-Kolby Reed[6]; 8. 28-Paul Ripley[8]; 9. 31-Jason Vokovan[2]; 10. 00-Joe Swearingen[15]; 11. 1-Jake Stai[13]; 12. 10Z-Cade Johnson[16]; 13. 62K-Ryan Kough[4]; 14. 20-Jaxon Helland[18]; 15. 101-Michael Grover[14]; 16. 15K-Connor Kaseno[17]; 17. (DNF) 41-Tyler Vernon[7]; 18. (DNF) 88K-Donavan Knutson[11]; 19. (DNF) 33-Cooper Berlin[19]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40D-Blake Adams[4]; 2. 89-Kolby Reed[1]; 3. 63JR-Brady Larson[2]; 4. 19C-Cody Cimfl[6]; 5. 1-Jake Stai[5]; 6. 10Z-Cade Johnson[3]; 7. (DNF) 33-Cooper Berlin[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Travis Anderson[2]; 2. 31-Jason Vokovan[1]; 3. 62K-Ryan Kough[6]; 4. 88K-Donavan Knutson[3]; 5. 101-Michael Grover[4]; 6. 15K-Connor Kaseno[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 70-David Simpson[1]; 2. 28-Paul Ripley[4]; 3. 41-Tyler Vernon[3]; 4. 7-Mike Schnider[6]; 5. 00-Joe Swearingen[5]; 6. 20-Jaxon Helland[2]
11 entries
WISSOTA Street Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 12-Cody Kummer[2]; 2. 11-Sam Fankhauser[5]; 3. 7-Caiden Engel[4]; 4. 3R-Danny Richards[7]; 5. 1R-Cole Richards[8]; 6. 86-Layla Chaplin[11]; 7. 20F-Connor Franson[1]; 8. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[3]; 9. (DNF) 19A-Shawn Amundson[6]; 10. (DNF) 19C-Nick Traynor[9]; 11. (DNF) 81-Charlie Pitcavage[10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3R-Danny Richards[1]; 2. 1R-Cole Richards[2]; 3. 19A-Shawn Amundson[4]; 4. 7-Caiden Engel[3]; 5. 19C-Nick Traynor[6]; 6. 86-Layla Chaplin[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Sam Fankhauser[1]; 2. 12-Cody Kummer[3]; 3. 00Z-Bryar Zimmerman[2]; 4. 20F-Connor Franson[5]; 5. 81-Charlie Pitcavage[4]
22 entries
WISSOTA Pure Stock
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 78-Mark Barta[5]; 2. 38-Simon Wahlstrom[22]; 3. 52W-Austin Fencl[3]; 4. 5R-George Richards[4]; 5. 88-Robert Wahlstrom[19]; 6. 93-CJ Wagner[7]; 7. 55-Caleb Duffie[8]; 8. 04K-Jerame Ristau[10]; 9. 1-Carsyn Olson[20]; 10. 10-Anthony Ravina[13]; 11. 925-Dnae Rose[6]; 12. 67P-Dale Peterson[17]; 13. (DNF) 31-Tom Treviranus[2]; 14. (DNF) 231-Trevor Treviranus[1]; 15. (DNF) 89-Steve Karshbaum[12]; 16. (DNF) 23R-James Rahn[9]; 17. (DNF) 3D-Sean Duffy[15]; 18. (DNF) 9M-Marlene Lannet[16]; 19. (DNF) 07-Thomas LaPage[11]; 20. (DNS) 83-Tyler Wahlstrom; 21. (DNS) AK-Mitch Kesan; 22. (DQ) 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[14]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 93-CJ Wagner[5]; 2. 31-Tom Treviranus[4]; 3. 231-Trevor Treviranus[7]; 4. 04K-Jerame Ristau[1]; 5. 10-Anthony Ravina[8]; 6. 3D-Sean Duffy[3]; 7. 9M-Marlene Lannet[2]; 8. 67P-Dale Peterson[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52W-Austin Fencl[2]; 2. 23R-James Rahn[7]; 3. 925-Dnae Rose[1]; 4. 07-Thomas LaPage[3]; 5. (DNF) 83-Tyler Wahlstrom[5]; 6. (DNF) 88-Robert Wahlstrom[6]; 7. (DNF) 1-Carsyn Olson[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 5R-George Richards[4]; 2. 78-Mark Barta[7]; 3. 55-Caleb Duffie[1]; 4. 89-Steve Karshbaum[6]; 5. 89A-Alyson Karshbaum[5]; 6. (DNS) AK-Mitch Kesan; 7. (DQ) 38-Simon Wahlstrom[2]
Article Credit: Ed Reichert